IFP Surprised to be Preached Politics by Public Servant

May 2, 2007

The IFP has been annoyed by the comments by eThekwini Metro City Manager Mike Sutcliffe in response to Tuesday's opposition march against new street names in Durban as much as it has been offended by the conspicuous silence from the majority party in eThekwini Metro Council.

On Tuesday, thousands of IFP supporters delivered a memorandum against new street names to Durban City Hall only to find it empty. The march followed a long flawed municipal process devoid of transparency and genuine public participation.

"It is most extraordinary that the City Manager, a public servant, has been tasked with what is essentially a political matter - a response to a public memorandum against new street names," said IFP National Organiser Albert Mncwango who co-organised Tuesday's march.

"This merely demonstrates that the public service at eThekwini Municipality is so infiltrated with ANC cohorts that any public servant appears to be able speak publicly on behalf of the ruling party," said Mncwango.

The IFP has noted with concern Sutcliffe's perverse views regarding public participation and his disdain for the opposition political parties that have consistently protested against the flawed process of renaming places in and around Durban.

"If the ANC leadership is so keen on hearing from the public as Sutcliffe suggests, why did the public office bearers, to whom the memorandum was addressed, ignore some solid input from the public brought to their doorstep at the City Hall?" - said Mncwango.

The IFP believes that feedback on the proposed new names from the ANC branches in eThekwini Municipality, which has been the only feedback the council has sought and received, hardly passes for public participation.

Sutcliffe also alleges that the name changes had been approved by multiparty focus groups. "If this was the case, why would the IFP members of such a group have voted to rename the Mangosuthu Highway in Umlazi?" - said Mncwango.

Contact:
Albert Mncwango, 083 448 4896